E3 2016: Microsoft Conference

Today was the second day of the 2016 E3 Conference, let’s have a look at what Microsoft had to show us this year.

They started the show with the unveiling of the Xbox One S, which was not a big surprise thanks to yesterday’s massive leak. The Xbox One S is a 40% smaller version of the original console that offers 4k graphics, HDR, and blu ray support. The Xbox One S will be available August 2016 starting at $299 for the 500GB unit and $399 for the 2TB unit.

Microsoft followed up the previous announcement by introducing Xbox Play. This is a program which will allow gamers to play games with their gamer tag on both Windows 10 and Xbox One.

The first game this will be available for is Gears of War 4; which will support cross play. A new elite controller will be released with the Gears of War colour scheme. Gears of War 4 will be released for Windows 10 and Xbox One on October 11th 2016.

Killer Instinct Season 3 is available now for both Windows 10 and Xbox One. The game is free to play this week and will be available for Xbox Play when the program is launched in November 2016.

The Forza Horizon 3 trailer was also premiered at the event. The newest addition to the Forza game series will take place in Australia and be available for both Windows 10 and Xbox One. The game will release on September 27th 2016.

ReCore will be part of Xbox play as well. The game will be available to Windows 10 and Xbox One on September 13th 2016.

A new gameplay demo for Final Fantasy XV called the “Trial of Titan” was presented. The game will release on PC, PS4 and Xbox One on September 30th 2016.

Also, a timed exclusive expansion for The Division will be released on June 28th 2016 for Xbox One. The expansion is called “Underground”. No word on when it will release for PC or PS4 but more details are sure to follow in the Ubisoft conference later today.

In case you missed the Battlefield 1 trailer yesterday, it was presented again today. Battlefield 1 will release on PC, PS4 and Xbox One on October 21st 2016.

Xbox One will have new features coming this summer. The console will let you listen to music in the background while playing, users will have language independence, and users will no longer have restrictions based on their region. Cortana is also coming to Xbox One. Another feature to look forward to is the ability to form clubs on Xbox Live. A new “looking for group” feature will be introduced and the Arena platform will enable players from around the world to sign up for tournaments across a variety of games, including EA Sports games.

Minecraft is getting an update today called the Friendly update. It enable cross platform play between iOS, Android, and Windows. With that feature comes dedicated servers which will let your friends access your world at any time. Texture packs will also be released in the coming months. There will be more to come at MineCon in September.

A new game from the creators of Limbo was introduced. It’s called Inside and it will be coming to Xbox One on June 29th 2016. Limbo is also free for all Xbox One users starting today.

A massive presentation for ID@Xbox. Over 15 titles are shown in this rather short presentation.

Ark Survivals owners on Xbox One will be happy to know that it will become an Xbox Play title this fall.

We Happy Few is also a new title coming to Xbox One. It will be a timed exclusive and part of the Xbox Game Preview on July 26th 2016.

If you are a fan of The Witcher, or more particularly the Gwent card game, you will be happy to know that it is coming as a standalone card game to PC and consoles; it will also include a single player campaign. It’s a timed exclusive for PC and Xbox One and will release in September 2016. Go to playgwent.com for beta sign up.

A new Tekken will also be released in early 2017 and will include a single player campaign. It will be released for PC, PS4 and Xbox One. Xbox Live Gold members can grab a free Tekken Tag Tournament 2 right now.

Dead Rising 4 will be released in the 2016 holiday season and will be part of Xbox Play.

Scalebound gameplay footage was also presented today. This is also a Xbox Play title and will be released sometime in 2017.

Sea of Thieves is now part of the Xbox Play program and today we were able to see the first ever gameplay demo.

State of Decay 2 was officially announced and it will be a part of the Xbox Play program.

Halo Wars 2 is now official. Players can expect a new faction and new aliens. It will be part of Xbox Play and will be released on February 21st 2017. A week long beta is available now on Xbox One.

The last part of the Microsoft presentation was the long rumoured Project Scorpio. It is slated to be released in time for the 2017 holiday season and will include 6 teraflop of power and use 4K graphics; the game will also support VR.